


A Lingering Thought

by animeangelriku



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, I Love You, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 06:16:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16153310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animeangelriku/pseuds/animeangelriku
Summary: Yugi has forced himself to be careful withthisprecise thought for the past half year, even more so when he’s around Atem. He fears that the thought will continue to grow stronger and louder the more time they spend together until Atem can hear it, until he can read it in Yugi’s eyes.





	A Lingering Thought

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KamikazeWorld](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KamikazeWorld/gifts).



> Today's KamikazeWorld's birthday and I wanted to write something based on a beautiful lullaby she wrote. The bolded lyrics are hers, and I think they worked wonderfully for this! Happy birthday, Neko!! I love you!! <3
> 
> You can also read this on my [Tumblr](http://animeangelriku.tumblr.com/post/178652480217/puzzleshipping-a-lingering-thought), if you'd like!

**[i love you]**

 

**[in the evening, when the sun goes down]**

They’re sitting on Atem’s favorite bench in the park, watching people go by and kids play around as the sun slowly sets, when Yugi turns to look at Atem and thinks, _I love you._

The thought is so sudden, so unexpected (especially because he’s not in the privacy of his home, of his _room_ , where these kinds of thoughts are safe to think about) that Yugi immediately turns his head away, blood rushing to his cheeks and making him lightheaded. He has forced himself to be careful with _this_ precise thought for the past half year, even more so when he’s around Atem. He fears that the thought will continue to grow stronger and louder the more time they spend together until Atem can hear it, until he can read it in Yugi’s eyes. 

This would, under any other circumstances, not be a problem. Under any other circumstances, Yugi could simply pull away from Atem, keep his distance, stay away until he got ahold of the treacherous thought and managed to erase it from his mind.

The thing, though, is that Yugi and Atem are around each other _all the time_ —or as much time as they have to be around each other—and Yugi likes that. He _loves_ it, actually. Atem’s presence is more than a reassurance that he’s here and alive and real; it’s soothing, it’s peaceful, it’s a _solace_ that Yugi hadn’t realized he had lost until he got it back (he denied the aching emptiness in his chest for so long, trying to convince himself that his grief and mourning had nothing to do with heartbreak), and he’s not about to ruin it.

He just needs to be careful. He just needs to be careful.

He can’t ruin this. He will _not_ ruin this.

A few pigeons land in front of the bench where they’re sitting, searching the ground for breadcrumbs. Atem visibly tenses and scoots closer to Yugi, glaring at the birds.

“I don’t trust you,” he says, narrowing his eyes, and Yugi snorts so loudly that he starts laughing. When he turns to Atem to offer an apology and assure him that he wasn’t laughing _at_ him, he finds that Atem is smiling, his mouth twitching into a grin. “I know they seem harmless,” he adds, his tone serious despite his smile, “but they’ll take over civilization, I’m telling you.”

_I love you._ “I have no doubt that they will,” Yugi replies. “Good thing you’re onto them.”

Atem turns back to the pigeons, threateningly pointing a finger at them. “I’m keeping an eye on you.”

_I love you,_ Yugi thinks again, and he shakes his head to himself. The persistent thought refuses to be ignored, even as Yugi tries to shove it to the back of his mind, lest the thought becomes tangible words, lest those tangible words leave the tip of his tongue like they so desperately want to.

They stay on the bench until the sun has gone almost entirely down, moonlight beginning to overtake what little sunrays remain. As soon as they start walking back home, their steps grow closer to each other’s until Atem’s left arm and Yugi’s right are pressed together, from their shoulders all the way down to their wrists—an unconscious habit that still makes Yugi blush and smile to himself, even though it has been six months.

The thought lingers.

 

**[in the morning, when the world don’t make a sound]**

Atem wakes up with a numb right arm.

He rubs the sleepiness out of his eyes (with his left not-numb arm, thank you very much) and blinks wearily, and it’s only when he’s fully conscious that he realizes he and Yugi fell asleep on the couch.

They were watching a movie last night, sitting close together and trying not to yawn. They missed movie night last week and didn’t want to miss another one. Atem started the tradition a few months ago, and even though he assured Yugi that they could do movie night tomorrow (because he could tell Yugi was more tired than he had cared to admit), Yugi insisted that he wasn’t tired enough to break their tradition, and Atem’s heart did this little somersault inside his chest that had him smiling idiotically for however long it took them to decide on a movie and play it.

Atem remembers yawning first, followed shortly by Yugi’s own yawn, but they refused to stop the movie, decided to finish watching it before going to sleep. Apparently, their bodies had disagreed with their determination, and they must have fallen asleep before the movie was over, if their current position was anything to go by.

Atem’s leaning his head against Yugi’s shoulder, and the reason his right arm is numb is because he’s had it pressed against Yugi’s for only Ra knows how many hours. But Yugi’s head is resting on top of his and he’s snoring softly, still soundly asleep, so Atem dares not to move. He would rather die again than wake Yugi up when he’s like this, soft and warm next to Atem, sleeping peacefully after he’s had several sleepless nights, his slight snoring the only sound in the room besides the pounding of Atem’s heart in his ears.

_I love you,_ Atem thinks, watching Yugi’s chest rising and falling in sync with his breaths, mesmerized. He feels like the world outside Yugi’s home—outside his _living room_ , even—doesn’t exist, like it’s just this room and the couch they fell asleep upon and _them._

It’s not the first time he’s had the thought; of course it isn’t, he’s had this thought for a long time, before he came back, even before he _left_ , even before he was told who he was. Sometimes he feels as if the thought has _always_ been there, and it’s only now that he’s given himself the chance (the luxury) to think it. 

_I love you,_ he thinks again, though he bites the words down when they threaten to slip past his mouth. They’re safe as a mere thought, as something Atem can repeat over and over again in his head, as something he can _imagine_ himself saying, knowing that he will never be courageous enough to actually do it—not even with Yugi asleep beside him, unable to hear him. Why risk it?

He just needs to be careful. He just needs to be careful.

He can’t ruin this. He will _not_ ruin this.

Atem doesn’t know how long he’ll have to wait for Yugi to stir and wake up so they can move. It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t mind waiting.

The thought lingers.

 

**[in the daylight, when there’s laughter all around]**

It was Grandpa’s idea to host a small Duel Monsters tournament at the Game Shop, mainly for kids who were only starting to play and wanted to practice their skills with other beginners. Yugi’s mother argued that, surely, he just wanted the shop to make some profit off Yugi’s success as a Duel Monsters champion, but Grandpa swore that was not the case. In fact, he made both Yugi and Atem stay away from the Game Shop to prove his point, and he didn’t allow them back inside until all the children had left, their hands full of new card packs and the promise that they would come back for the next tournament.

Yugi and Atem were not forced out of the Game Shop for this next tournament, and they watched the small little store fill to the brim with kids whose ages ranged from 6-years old to 17-year-old teenagers. Even a few adults showed up as well. The Game Shop was so full, in fact, that Yugi and Atem had to put chairs and tables outside the store so that everyone had a little more space.

They do the same when the day of the third Game Shop tournament rolls around, except that they do it _before_ the matches start. It’s less of a fuss that way.

An hour and a half before the tournament, Yugi turns at the sound of the door bell and finds a group of middle-schoolers huddled together, glancing around like they don’t want to be here. He puts down the box (the first one of many) with the newly arrived merchandise he’s supposed to arrange along the shelves and smiles warmly. 

“Welcome to the Game Shop!” he greets the group. “Are you here for the tournament?” He glances at the clock. “I’m afraid you’re a little early for that.”

A boy takes a step forward, his arms glued to his sides. “N-no, we—we’re not here for the tournament.”

They don’t seem like they want to buy any games, so Yugi waits for the boy to continue.

“A-are you Mutou Yugi?” he asks.

“Yes,” Yugi answers, frowning slightly. It doesn’t seem like they’re looking for a duel with him or anything of the sort, either, so he doesn’t understand how his name matters in this situation.

When the boy says nothing, a girl bumps her arm against his and turns to Yugi.

“W-we… we want to learn how to play Duel Monsters!” Then she looks down at her shoes and shyly mumbles, “Please?”

The rest of the teenagers currently huddled at the door mutter amongst themselves, all of them blushing in what Yugi can only assume is embarrassment.

“We’ve watched a few matches,” says another girl. “But we still don’t get a lot of the rules.”

“And when we ask other kids to show us how to play, they make fun of us,” another boy adds. “They say we should know already, but how can we know if no one’ll tell us how?”

That’s not fair. No one should be made fun of just because they don’t know how to do something, much less if they’re _trying_ to learn and no one will take them seriously. Yugi balls his hands into fists, his blood boiling, and he’s about to say something he’ll possibly regret right after he says it when he feels a hand on his shoulder steadying him, grounding him. Atem is standing next to him, his grip gentle but firm, showing up exactly when Yugi needs him to.

Atem smiles warmly at him, and Yugi feels as his anger ebbs out of him and his hands, tightened so hard that his nails are digging into his palms, loosen. His entire body relaxes. He almost leans against Atem, but he manages to refrain himself.

“Did I hear you guys right?” Atem asks, his attention on the group of middle-schoolers. “You want to learn how to play Duel Monsters?”

“Will you teach us?” pleads the boy that first stepped forward.

Yugi looks at Atem just as Atem looks at him. He knows that Atem will gladly take over Yugi’s duty to arrange the merchandise if he asks him as much (and even if he doesn’t ask).

“Would it be okay with you if my friend here taught you instead of me?” Yugi asks the teenagers, and he doesn’t miss the way Atem immediately pulls his hand back from his shoulder in surprise.

He also knows, however, that this opportunity is perfect—or at least, much better suited—for Atem, even if he won’t say it. Even if he won’t believe it.

“I—wh-what?” Atem stammers.

The middle-schoolers take a collective sharp breath, their eyes widening.

“R-really?” asks one of the girls, and her voice is threaded with disbelief, like she can’t believe they’re not being mocked but actually listened to.

“Just take a seat,” Yugi tells her as confirmation, and the group disbands immediately to sit down at the tables already set up with a duel mat, pulling decks and loose cards out of their pockets and backpacks as they speak to each other in hushed, eager voices.

“Yugi,” Atem whispers urgently, turning his back to the teenagers and grabbing Yugi’s sleeve. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“I’m sure it is,” Yugi says.

“I’ve never taught anyone _anything_!”

_That’s not true,_ he wants to say, recalling how much he has learned about himself thanks to Atem. Yugi takes his hand and gently uncurls it from his sleeve so he can hold it in his own hand instead. “You’ll do great, I know it.”

Atem presses his lips together and stares down at their held hands for a second longer than Yugi thought he would. It makes his ears go red, but he doesn’t let go. To his relief, neither does Atem.

“Okay,” Atem mumbles, the word whooshing out of him in a rushed sigh. “Okay,” he repeats, and he squeezes Yugi’s hand as if asking for one last reassurance. Yugi squeezes his hand back.

_I love you,_ he thinks despite his better judgement.

Atem turns to his future students, who go quiet and give him their full attention.

“All right,” he tells them, all self-confidence and boyish cockiness, all his nerves apparently gone. “Are you ready to start? I need two volunteers!”

Yugi continues arranging the new games and card packs and boosters along the shelves and the counter display, but he can’t help turning his head to stare at Atem as he leans over the biggest table inside the Game Shop (all the middle-schoolers moved their chairs to sit around it) and talks about the basics of Duel Monsters. The two girls who volunteered at the beginning are sat at the ends of the table, having a “practice duel,” and Atem goes over every move they make, explaining how monsters and their attack and defense points work, how to tribute summon and how to special summon, the different kinds of traps there are, how spells can help you by strengthening you or weakening your opponent.

At some point, Atem looks up from the table and meets Yugi’s gaze with a smile.

_I love you,_ Yugi thinks even as he turns away to get the contents of a third box. He feels like the more he tries to keep _that_ thought out of his head, the more stubborn it becomes, and if he doesn’t do anything to stop it, it will eventually make its way past his lips and out into the world and it will ruin _everything_ —

“Yes!” Atem yells victoriously, and his students break into cheers and excited applause and ecstatic laughter. Yugi doesn’t know which girl won and which one lost, or even if there was a winner at all, but he smiles at the sight anyway: a group of middle-schoolers sitting around a table, experiencing the joys of being a duelist for the first time, and Atem kneeling in front of it, his mouth moving with words that Yugi can’t hear but that make the kids cheer even louder.

He looks so happy that Yugi _feels_ it right along with him, his chest swelling with pride and with so much love that it could burst right out of him. It’s a miracle it doesn’t.

_I love you,_ Yugi thinks again, sighing to himself. He might as well accept that there’s no use in trying not to think it.

_I love you. I love you. I love you._

He gets the first game out of the third box of newly arrived merchandise and climbs the ladder to reach one of the top shelves.

The thought lingers.

 

**[in the nighttime, when the stars will surely shine]**

The rainstorm hits unexpectedly. The light goes out shortly after the first lightning flashes in the sky, thunder booming over their heads. Atem, who had been reading a book that Mrs. Mutou lent him at the kitchen table, places the bookmark (which she lent him as well) on the page he left off, closing the book.

Yugi sighs from his chair across the table. “Well,” he says, shutting the lid of his laptop. “I guess I’m not getting any more work done today.”

Atem glances out the window at the sky. It doesn’t look like the dark clouds will let up anytime soon. If anything, the rain sounds heavier and stronger with each passing second. 

“I don’t think the lights will come back for a while,” he says, anxiety starting to make his hands itch. He’s gotten better at dealing with blackouts and darkness in general, but it’s still a work in progress. Besides, some days are just better than others, and he has no way of knowing what kind of day it’ll be until a situation like this happens.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Yugi says behind him. When Atem swirls to look at him, Yugi clears his throat and cries, “Let there be light!” before dramatically raising his arm above his head and turning on the flashlight in his hand. Atem laughs at the proud grin on Yugi’s face.

_My hero,_ is what he thinks at first, but perhaps that’s a bit too much to say to the friend he has such strong feelings for. _I love you,_ is his next thought, which is no surprise at all, because that’s the one thought he can never get rid off, the one thought that is always, always, _always_ in his mind.

He’s selfishly glad they don’t share a mind link anymore. He can barely hide the thought as it is.

Atem settles on saying, “Brilliant,” which makes Yugi chuckle. It’s looking like this will be a good day, after all.

The rain and the added darkness of the blackout make the entire house feel a little colder, so Atem offers to make some tea.

“Do you want some help?” Yugi asks him, but Atem shakes his head and ushers him towards the table.

“You’ve had a long week,” he replies. “Go sit down and rest.”

“It’s just _tea_ ,” Yugi insists.

“Exactly,” Atem says, motioning Yugi to sit down. “Go on, shoo.”

Yugi rolls his eyes, though he can’t hide the way his lips curl upwards as he turns to the kitchen table and takes a seat. Atem stares at him for perhaps a second too long, his own mouth curving into a smile.

_I love you._ He has to clear his throat before talking again. “N-now, see? That wasn’t so difficult, was it?” he teases Yugi, shoving the thought to the back of his mind. Yugi makes a big show out of taking a deep breath and sighing in resignation.

“I _guess_ ,” he relents, and Atem has to turn to the stove, because the thought has escaped whatever corner Atem pushed it to and it’s currently bouncing around his head, unstoppable.

It’s not that he doesn’t want Yugi to help him, and it’s definitely not that he doesn’t want Yugi standing close to him, handing him the utensils he needs and waiting for the water to boil. Making tea, as trivial as it might seem, is the one thing Atem _knows_ how to “cook.” Mrs. Mutou is still wary about him helping out in the kitchen after he and Yugi tried baking cookies a few months ago and nearly ended up burning down the entire house, but he has proven he can make tea without a hitch, and he’s _proud_ of that, okay?

(Mrs. Mutou has no problem with Atem trying to help _her_ out, though, which he’s thankful for. He likes watching her bake or cook, hoping that he’ll one day learn enough to do the same without turning the stove into a fire hazard.)

(He hopes one day he’ll be able to surprise Yugi with a homemade meal to express his gratitude for… well, for everything, really. He feels like it’s the least he can do.)

“What were you working on?” Atem asks while the water on the kettle boils, turning sideways so he can keep an eye on it without having his back to Yugi.

Yugi’s arms are crossed over the table, and he leans his chin on them. “There are still a few glitches and bugs I need to work out for _Spherium II_ before I can even start on the prototype,” he answers. “Just when I think I’ve solved one issue, another one pops up.”

“But that’s good, isn’t it?” Atem, still sideways, leans against the stove. “That way there won’t be any bugs or glitches when you release the game.”

“I mean,” Yugi mumbles, looking away from Atem. “I still don’t know if I’ll ever be able to release it—”

“Of course you will,” Atem interjects, fully turning so he’s facing Yugi. “You can do anything you set your mind to, Yugi, especially if it’s something you’re so passionate about. You’ve already put so much work into _Spherium II_ , and it _shows._ ”

The kettle starts whistling, and Atem turns off the stove. Then he grabs the kettle and pours them both a cup of tea, setting one down in front of Yugi and one in front of the chair across from him, taking a seat.

“I’m not just saying that, either,” he continues. “When you release it—and you _will_ be able to, don’t give me that look—everyone else will see that, too.”

Yugi’s hands curl around his cup, staring at Atem without saying a word. For a second, Atem fears that he’s gone too far, that he’s pushed too much, that he’s crossed a line he didn’t realize existed until it hit him in the face. He feels the heat of shame on the back of his neck, and he’s about to apologize when Yugi lets out this little sound like a laugh or a sigh of contentment.

“Well,” he says at last. There’s a shy smile on his lips and a blush across his cheeks. “When you put it like that, how could I ever doubt it?” 

Now Atem is the one who looks away, unable to look straight at that smile and know that the words _he_ said are the reason for it. He takes a sip from his tea in the hopes that it’ll calm his racing heart, but Yugi’s still looking at him like he puts the sun in the sky every single day, and the heat Atem feels crawling up the back of his neck isn’t because of shame any longer.

He briefly meets Yugi’s gaze with his own.

_I love you,_ he thinks. The thought doesn’t feel as unwelcome as it did mere minutes ago.

Still, Atem realizes that they’ve just been staring at each other for a while now, so he clears his throat and takes another sip of his tea. Yugi, apparently, comes to the same conclusion, because he chuckles nervously and glances away at the book Atem was reading before the lights went out.

“Is this any good?” he asks curiously, his fingers softly caressing the cover. “I know it’s one of Mom’s favorites, but I don’t actually know what it is about.”

Atem lets out a sigh of relief at the change in conversation. “Oh, yeah! I’m a little over halfway done, and I’ve really liked it so far!” he says. Then he delves into a general summary of what he’s read, careful not to spoil any major details or plot points in case Yugi wants to pick it up after he’s done with it.

When they both finish their tea, Yugi stands up from the table, grabs both his cup and Atem’s, and heads to the sink. “Here, I’ll do it.”

“Oh, you don’t have to—”

“You made the tea,” Yugi interrupts him. “At least let me take care of this, okay?”

Atem copies Yugi’s faux annoyance from earlier and rolls his eyes. “ _Fine,_ ” he exhales. “If you must.”

Yugi grins at him with the same admiration as before, and it’s too much for Atem to handle. So he turns away and stares at his hands, trying not to focus on how close Yugi’s standing to him. He tries to pay attention to the running water of the sink, but that ultimately fails, too.

_I love you,_ comes the treacherous thought again, except that it doesn’t feel all that treacherous anymore, not with the way Yugi smiles at him, not with the way Yugi holds his hand sometimes.

Not with the way Yugi looks at him when he thinks Atem can’t see it.

_I love you,_ Atem mouths quietly, savoring the thought-turned-words, making sure that he doesn’t actually say it out loud. It doesn’t feel as dangerous on his tongue as he imagined it would. _I love you._ It’s heavy, yes, but in a different way than Atem used to believe. He used to believe that it was a threat, that it would ruin everything, _destroy_ everything if it was ever spoken and made tangible—if it was ever made _real._

Now he believes that maybe, just maybe, rather than destroy, it can _create_ something new.

_I love you. I love you. I love you._

Outside, the rain goes on. It will for the rest of the night, but the clouds will eventually dissipate and let the stars shine through.

The thought lingers.

 

**[in the day, and i’m yours…]**

_You can do anything you set your mind to, Yugi, especially if it’s something you’re so passionate about._

That’s what Atem told him the night of the storm two weeks ago, and it’s all Yugi has been able to think about since then.

The thought has been, somehow, even _more_ insistent lately— _so_ insistent, in fact, that Yugi has completely given up on trying to ignore it, on trying to push it into a box and then locking it away where he won’t find it, where he won’t be able to reach it. He has come to realize that it doesn’t work in the slightest.

On the contrary, now he’s started to think about the possibility of _saying_ the thought rather than keep it inside his head.

The prospect seems terrifying, and it feels even more so.

Part of him screams in despair at the mere image of him letting the thought make it past his mouth. He imagines his legs shaking and his hands sweating, and he imagines himself speaking the thought (like he has done when he’s alone, when Atem isn’t around, when he can’t help but wonder how it’ll feel to say it out loud) and then the silence that will undoubtedly ensue, and he imagines the possible rejection and his heart breaking at the sight of it and what if it destroys everything, what if Atem doesn’t just outright reject him but also _hates_ him afterwards?

But the other part of him imagines it differently.

The other part of him has noticed the way Atem holds onto him like he’s a lifeline, the way Atem laughs when they’re together.

The way Atem looks at him when he doesn’t realize that Yugi is looking back.

_You can do anything you set your mind to,_ Atem said.

It’s all Yugi has been able to think about.

Even though he and Atem have been playing this game for well over an hour and a half, sitting cross-legged between the headboard of his bed and the computer sitting in front of them, taking turns when either of them dies or gets stuck in an area, Yugi’s starting to have trouble paying attention to the screen.

He’s much more aware of how close he and Atem are sitting.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” Atem mutters, making the character he’s controlling dash under one of the dual bosses he’s facing. He snarls in frustration when he gets hit, bringing his health masks down to the very last one. “Why are there so _many_ of them?!”

“You almost got it, you almost got it!” Yugi cries, though he understands the sentiment. This particular boss is composed of _six_ knights, two at a time, and they all roll from one side of the screen to the other, bounce in random patterns, and slash at their character when they try to heal. “You’ve only got two more!”

Yugi’s encouragement, sadly, isn’t enough, because Atem gets hit again before he can heal, effectively prompting the death animation of their character. Atem groans loudly and falls back on the bed at the same time Yugi throws his hands up in despair. They’ve been playing this game for well over an hour and a half, but they’ve been attempting to beat _this_ boss for the last forty-five minutes.

“I was so close,” Atem mumbles, his voice muffled by his hands covering his face. The controller rests on his crossed legs. “I was _so_ close…”

“You were doing really well,” Yugi tells him, patting his shoulder.

“ _I was so close!_ ”

“I know.”

Atem’s chest inflates with air and then lowers as he lets out a deep, long sigh. He rubs at his eyes and sits up again. “Okay,” he says, handing the controller to Yugi. “Your turn.”

Something snaps inside Yugi.

Or perhaps something snapped a long time ago, and he’s stopped denying it to himself.

He takes the controller from Atem’s hands, presses _Pause_ , and carefully places it down in the space between them and the computer. Then he grabs Atem’s face and kisses him.

 

**[if you’ll be mine]**

Atem feels like he’s a computer that has encountered an error and has stopped working altogether.

He freezes on the spot, his entire body going rigid when Yugi presses his mouth to his. Is he still breathing? Has he _stopped_ breathing? He doesn’t know, his brain is not responding, his arms and lungs and chest are not responding, his _entire body_ is not responding, is he _dead_?

No. No, he’s not. He’s just being kissed by the boy he loves.

Atem thankfully comes to this realization soon enough to kiss Yugi back before he pulls away. The tension flows out of him as his hands come up to gently hold Yugi’s neck (and he relishes the lovely pulse under his fingers, right beneath Yugi’s skin), and he pushes back against Yugi’s lips and downright _shivers_ at the surprised little sound that comes out of Yugi’s mouth, a combination of a sigh and a hum that makes electricity course through him. 

When Atem breaks away from the kiss—only slightly and only to catch his breath, he’s absolutely planning to indulge in some more kissing, if Yugi will allow him—Yugi immediately kisses him again, almost desperately, and now Atem is the one making these little noises that sound like gasps, and he feels Yugi shivering under his hands because of _him_ and oh, gods, have _mercy_ on him.

Atem doesn’t know how long they stay like that, kissing on Yugi’s bed while the game they’ve been playing for over an hour and a half is paused on the computer in front of them. It doesn’t seem to matter.

He feels Yugi reluctantly pulling away from him, and he has to hold himself back from just leaning in and closing the short distance between their mouths again. Atem rests his forehead against Yugi’s, his heart pounding inside his ribcage, its beat ringing in his ears. He breathes in deeply, allowing his chest to fill with air and then exhaling it out.

“I love you,” Yugi murmurs, his lips nearly brushing Atem’s.

It makes Atem gasp again. It’s the same thought he spent so long denying to himself, the same thought he tried so hard to ignore until he simply gave up and decided to let it roam freely around his head—the same thought he had just started to consider saying out loud.

And now _Yugi_ is saying it. To _him._

“I love you,” Atem says back, unable to hold back the grin taking over his mouth. Yugi laughs and grins right along with him, and Atem feels so overwhelmed, so happy and so loved and so _free_ now that the thought has been made real that he wants to repeat it over and over and _over_ again.

And the best part is that he _can._

Atem can say it again whenever he wants to, secure in the knowledge that Yugi will say it back.

Yugi lets go of him to grab the controller and turn his attention to his computer screen once more. “Let’s give the Watcher Knights another go, shall we?”

**Author's Note:**

> For the curious, they're playing _Hollow Knight_ , and the Watcher Knights SUCK.


End file.
